May 2014

Oh my, what a May!  I think May could rival December when it comes to activities that keep us busy, but it sure is fun – take a look:

I’m not sure we ever saw Autumn in May with all the dancing she was doing – a Company Showcase, her last competition of the season, separate Ballet and Jazz recitals along with their extra rehearsals, and tryouts for next year – it’s just a good thing she loves dancing so much! We were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Ririe made it for a short visit on their way home from their cross country trip and were able to be there at her Ballet and Jazz recitals – what a treat!!  Autumn is excited about her new team for next year!  She was supposed to have a week off before summer classes start on June 9, but she begged to take a week long Hip Hop dance intensive for that week, so we just keep dancing on…

Seth celebrated his 14th birthday with a pretty low-key day with family eating all of his favorite foods and enjoying his new clothes.  Bryce ordained him to the office of a Teacher the following Sunday.

Mother’s Day was made even better this year when we got to spend an hour Skypeing with Megan. She is doing so great and really loves being a missionary.  It was awesome to be able to talk with her and to see that she is really just as happy as she seems to be in her letters.

Bryce took the boys to Father’s and Sons and they had a great time camping, canoeing, playing with friends and ziplining into and over the lake. To no one’s surprise, Seth was the first to actually jump into the lake but others soon followed.  It was a fun weekend for them.

Seth and Devin both participated in our Stake’s musical production for the youth called “TURN” that was all about family history.  It was really good and both the boys loved being a part of it.  I’m not sure that Bryce loved that Devin wore his letterman’s jacket as part of a production on family history since it just makes him feel that much older. :)

Autumn spent a Saturday shooting a commercial up at Liberty Park for a gigantic bubble blowing thing.  She had a really fun time, and after several hours of creating, running through, popping and cheering on ginormous bubbles, she was a hot and sticky mess. I don’t think she even had to use soap when she showered when she got home :)

Devin started working his 2nd summer job (he will keep his job as a library helper through the summer since it’s just a few hours a week and is really flexible).  He will be working at Firehouse Subs through the summer and is really enjoying it so far.

We got to have Jessica come back and stay with us for a few more days to finish up her job as a dance teacher here in Utah, which was super fun for us – she is awesome!  We drove to Boise at the end of the month to celebrate her wedding to my nephew Ben in the Boise temple.  It was a really fun and busy weekend and we all enjoyed partying and cutting a rug at the reception!  Since Seth caught the garter and Autumn caught the bridal bouquet at the reception, I am thinking we will be having a double wedding here soon. :)

We experienced a bit of a miracle when Seth wasn’t hurt at all when he was hit by a car while riding his bike to school.  His bike was pretty beat up (it’s in the bike shop right now seeing if it can be fixed or if he will just have to get a new bike), but thanks to the fact that the lady who hit him hit his back tire and didn’t hit Seth straight on, Seth is fine. Hopefully Seth has learned to be more aware of traffic around him because even though he had the right of way, in a bike/car accident, the bike is always going to lose.  We are all feeling grateful.

Devin and Seth both had their end of year choir concerts, Seth ran the Jr. High’s 5k, and all of the kids finished out the school year with straight A’s for the year.  Now that school is out for the summer, we are all looking forward to a few months that are less scheduled – hooray for summer!!

April 2014

Where did April go?  This month just seemed to fly by!!  Here’s a look at some of the stuff we did:

Seth ran track some more and continued doing well in the 800m and mile races, even winning the 800m race for all boys 7th, 8th and 9th grades at one of his meets. He qualified for the region wide meet that was held the last 2 days in April and did well, especially considering the super high winds those days.  He is now officially done with another season of track.

We spent the first half of Spring Break hiking and playing around Moab and had an awesome time!  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and we found some new hikes we had never done before that were gorgeous.  We took Sasha with us this time and she loved hiking around with us.  We also did a ziplining adventure on top of the red rocks around Moab that was gorgeous!!  We drove the really long way home and stopped at Capital Reef National Park for the first time, mostly just to cross it off of Seth’s bucket list to visit all 5 National Parks in Utah.  Ours was mostly just a drive through with a few quick stops, but Bryce spent more time in Capital Reef later in the month doing all sorts of adventurous stuff. More on that later…

Devin spent the second half of Spring Break on choir tour in Anaheim, California and had a great time visiting amusement parks with his friends and then attending a music festival and performing in an “awesome” concert with a bunch of other choirs from around the country.  He didn’t take any pictures, so the only one I have is one that his friend, Shea texted me when they were in Disneyland. :)  Devin was also thrilled to find out that he made Chamber Choir for next year and will get to follow in Megan’s footsteps when he performs in Carnegie Hall in NYC next Spring.

Autumn performed with a bunch of other 5th graders from all over the State in Provo Freedom Festival’s “Hope of America” at BYU’s Marriott Center.  It was an awesome patriotic musical program that Autumn’s class has worked on all year, so she was super excited to finally get to perform it.  Autumn was on the very front row of students on the Marriott Center floor, right in the center, so the day after the performance, she was so excited to see a picture of herself in the newspaper covering the story.  Below are pictures of all of the kids in their red, white and blue and yellow t-shirts to create the American flag and the picture that was in the newspaper of Autumn.

Seth went on a mountain biking campout with his scout troop and had an awesome time mountain biking, even when he took a major wipe out that left him skinned up pretty good.  He told me, “I always say, if you’re going to crash, crash big.” :)

Devin went to Prom with his good friend Shea and they had a great time!  Here’s a couple of pictures.

Autumn had more dance competitions and continued to improve and do well.  She is now getting ready for her final competition, all of her recitals and tryouts for next year.  Busy girl!

Bryce spent a weekend hiking and rappelling in Capital Reef area with a group of friends.  He had an awesome time doing some really cool rappels over arches and down deep canyons.  Unfortunately the weather turned super rainy on their last day when they were supposed to hike through a slot canyon, and since everyone knows a slot canyon is not a place you want to be in a rainstorm, they did a couple of shorter hikes instead and came home a little early.

Megan had another great month being a missionary.  I LOVE that nearly all of her letters home contain “I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY” somewhere in the letter.  We are waiting to hear if she will be transferred this next week and CAN’T WAIT to talk to her on Mother’s Day!

We had a fun end to our month when our soon to be niece (marrying my nephew Ben) came to stay with us for a week before heading to Idaho to finish wedding plans.  Jessica fits right in with our family and we have been having a lot of fun.  We’re looking forward to going to Ben and Jess’s wedding at the end of May.

I guess that’s it for April – happy Spring everyone!!

March 2014

Here’s a look at our marvelous March…

Devin continued with his fencing tournaments.  He now loves when people ask him what he does for fun to answer, “Stab people”.

Seth had his first 2 track meets and set new personal bests in all of his races.  His favorite race is the mile, with the 800m being a close second.  We love cheering him on at meets – he loves to stay at the front of the pack, which makes for some pretty exciting finishes!

Autumn only had one dance competition this month, and only for her solo piece.  She was nervous after her experience forgetting her dance on stage last month, but danced so beautifully with no mistakes, which has really helped to restore her confidence moving forward.  She has 3 more competitions in April before the season ends for the year.

Devin and I attended a State Youth Council Leadership conference for three days at Utah State in Logan with the Highland Youth council and had a lot of fun. The classes were really good and the evening entertainment lots of fun. A highlight was watching Devin get hypnotized on stage with a group of kids and see his fun antics. It was pretty hysterical and Devin didn’t remember most of it.

Seth attended the Scout Pow wow at BYU on 2 separate Saturdays so he could earn more merit badges and thus help him progress towards his goal of getting more Eagle palms than Devin.  He also went with his troop on a campout to Antelope Island and had a great time hiking around the island and seeing buffalo (check one out in the background of the first picture below), antelope and all sorts of birds.

Devin also attended the State HOSA competition where his parli-pro team was slightly disappointed to win 2nd place, meaning they don’t get to compete at the National tournament in June, but is still great considering they were competing against lots of teams from all over the state.  Devin has decided to try again next year. 

My nephew Erik Jensen married Brianna Benson on March 22 in the Draper temple and it was a great weekend spent with family celebrating the newest eternal family on my side of the family.

Autumn became the first person in our family to finish a triathlon when she did the kids Icebreaker triathlon with her friend, Halle.  Unfortunately, she and Devin spent most of the month sick with colds and she was still not feeling 100% the day of the triathlon, but she really wanted to do it anyway, so she pushed through and did great!!

We officially finished our interior remodeling by getting new carpet throughout the main floor and upstairs. Since we had to move everything out of the way for the carpet layers, it was pretty much like moving, which was a huge pain, but so great once the carpet was done and we moved stuff back in, all fresh and uncluttered. Our kids would say that I have since become the clean room Nazi since I make them clean their bedrooms every day, but I don’t care – it looks and feels awesome!

Autumn and I loved going to the General Women’s meeting at the end of March together. As we were singing the opening hymn, I had the thought that Megan was sitting in a church building in Texas singing that same hymn at that same time and it made me smile. When I shared that with Megan, she wrote me that she had been thinking the exact same thing about Autumn and me while she was singing the opening hymn.  It’s so great to feel close to her even though she is so far away.  She is loving her time serving as a missionary!  She will hit the halfway mark on April 3. Yay!!

Have an awesome April!!